Legal claims defining the scope of protection, as filed with the USPTO.
1. A method of operating a transport interface for at least one local port associated with a first protocol by which frames are transmitted and received in order, said transport interface providing a mechanism to drop duplicate and/or out of-order frames transported over a synchronous network that generates duplicate frames according to a second protocol, said method comprising: receiving a plurality of first protocol frames in order from said at least one local port for transmission to at least one remote port; encapsulating said plurality first protocol frames in said received order into one or more second protocol frames for transport over said synchronous network from said at least one local port to said at least one remote port; inserting a sequence number with each first protocol frame into said one or more second protocol frames in said order, wherein said sequence number is used as an index for determining duplicate and/or out-of order first protocol frames after transport over said synchronous network, and wherein a drop data strobe is generated for each said determined duplicate and/or out of order first protocol frames; and inserting a control character with said sequence number with each first protocol frame into said one or more second protocol frames, wherein said control character indicates said sequence number is active for a corresponding first protocol frame.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein said one or more second protocol frames comprise synchronous optical network (SONET) or synchronous digital hierarchy (SDH) frames.
3. The method of claim 2 , wherein said SONET or SDH frames comprise Generic Framing Protocol-T (GFP-T) frames.
4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising incrementing said sequence number to indicate said order for each said received first protocol frame.
5. The method of claim 1 , wherein said control character comprises an upper nibble of 0×8h indicating that said control character is a K character code ensuring a proper mapping into a GFP frame.
6. The method of claim 1 , wherein said control character indicates a valid sequence number.
7. The method of claim 1 , wherein a cyclic redundancy check (CRC) for each said determined duplicate and/or out-of-order first protocol frames is failed when said drop data strobe is enabled.
8. A method of operating a transport interface for at least one local port associated with a first protocol in which frames are transmitted and received in order, said transport interface providing a mechanism to drop duplicate and/or out-of-order frames transported over a synchronous network that generates duplicate frames according to a second protocol, said method comprising: decapsulating a plurality of first protocol frames from one or more second protocol frames in received order after transport over said synchronous network from at least one remote port to said at least one local port; comparing sequence numbers in said received order, each sequence number inserted with each first protocol frame into said one or more second protocol frames, to determine duplicate and/or out-of order first protocol frames, wherein a control character inserted with each sequence number with each first protocol frame in said one or more second protocol frames is checked to determine if said sequence number is active for a corresponding first protocol frame; and generating a drop data strobe such that each said duplicate and/or out-of-order first protocol frames is dropped.
9. The method of claim 8 , wherein said one or more second protocol frames comprise synchronous optical network (SONET) or synchronous digital hierarchy (SDH) frames.
10. The method of claim 9 , wherein said SONET or SDH frames comprise Generic Framing Protocol-T (GFP-T) frames.
11. The method of claim 8 , wherein said control character comprises an upper nibble of 0×8h indicating that said control character is a K character code validly mapped into a GFP frame.
12. The method of claim 8 , wherein said control character indicates a valid sequence number.
13. The method of claim 8 , wherein comparing comprises comparing consecutive sequence numbers of decapsulated first protocol frames in said received order to a processed sequence number and if a consecutive sequence number is not larger than said processed sequence number then determining a decapsulated first protocol frame associated with said consecutive sequence number is a duplicate or out-of order frame.
14. The method of claim 8 , wherein comparing further comprises: subtracting a sequence number of a previously forwarded first protocol frame from a sequence number of a decapsulated first protocol frame to produce a difference; and determining that said decapsulated first protocol frame is a duplicate or out-of order frame if said difference is equal or less than zero.
15. The method of claim 8 , wherein a cyclic redundancy check (CRC) for each said duplicate and/or out-of-order first protocol frames is failed when said drop data strobe is enabled.
16. The method of claim 8 , further comprising sending properly received first protocol frames to said at least one local port.
17. In a network system for transporting Generic Framing Protocol (GFP)-encapsulated Fibre Channel/FICON frames across a synchronous optical network (SONET) or synchronous digital hierarchy (SDH) transport network between first and second Fibre Channel/FICON ports, said first Fibre Channel/FICON port connected to said SONET/SDH transport network through a first transport interface and said second Fibre Channel/FICON port connected to said SONET/SDH transport network through a second transport interface, said first transport interface comprising: at least one integrated circuit configured to encapsulate Fibre Channel/FICON frames from said first Fibre Channel/FICON port into one or more transport frames in order for transport over said SONET/SDH network to said second Fibre Channel/FICON port; and to insert a sequence number in said order with each Fibre Channel/FICON frame into said one or more transport frames, said sequence number operative as an index for determining duplicate and/or out-of-order frames after transport over said SONET/SDH network, wherein a drop data strobe is generated for each said determined duplicate and/or out of order Fibre Channel/FICON frames, and wherein said at least one integrated circuit is further configured to insert a control character with said sequence number with each Fibre Channel/FICON frame into said one or more transport frames, said control character indicating said sequence number is active for a corresponding Fibre Channel/FICON frame.
18. The first transport interface of claim 17 , wherein said at least one integrated circuit is configured to increment said sequence number to indicate said order for each Fibre Channel/FICON frame from said first Fibre Channel/FICON port.
19. The first transport interface of claim 17 , wherein said control character comprises an upper nibble of 0×8h indicating that said control character is a K character code ensuring a proper mapping into a GFP frame.
20. The first transport interface of claim 17 , wherein said control character indicates a valid sequence number.
21. The first transport interface of claim 17 , wherein a cyclic redundancy check (CRC) for each said determined duplicate and/or out-of-order first protocol frames is failed when said drop data strobe is enabled.
22. In a network system for transporting Generic Framing Protocol (GFP)-encapsulated FICON frames across a synchronous optical network (SONET) or synchronous digital hierarchy (SDH) transport network between first and second Fibre Channel/FICON ports, said first Fibre Channel/FICON port connected to said SONET/SDH transport network through a first transport interface and said second Fibre Channel/FICON port connected to said SONET/SDH transport network through a second transport interface, said second transport interface comprising: at least one integrated circuit configured to decapsulate Fibre Channel/FICON frames from one or more transport frames after transport over said SONET/SDH network from said first Fibre Channel/FICON port; to compare sequence numbers in received order, each sequence number inserted with each Fibre Channel/FICON frame into said one or more transport frames, for determining duplicate and/or out-of-order Fibre Channel/FICON frames, and to generate a drop data strobe such that each said duplicate and/or out-of-order Fibre Channel/FICON frames is dropped, wherein said at least one integrated circuit is configured to check a control character inserted with each sequence number with each Fibre Channel/FICON frame in said one or more transport frames to indicate said sequence number is active for a corresponding Fibre Channel/FICON frame.
23. The second transport interface of claim 22 , wherein said control character comprises an upper nibble of 0×8h indicating that said control character is a K character code is validly mapped into a GFP frame.
24. The second transport interface of claim 22 , wherein said control character indicates a valid sequence number.
25. The second transport interface of claim 22 , wherein said integrated circuit is configured to compare consecutive sequence numbers of decapsulated Fibre Channel/FICON frames in said received order to a processed sequence number and if a consecutive sequence number is not larger than said processed sequence number then determining a decapsulated Fibre Channel/FICON frame associated with said consecutive sequence number is a duplicate or out-of order frame.
26. The second transport interface of claim 22 , wherein said integrated circuit is configured to subtract a sequence number of a previously forwarded Fibre Channel/FICON frame from a sequence number of a decapsulated Fibre Channel/FICON frame to produce a difference; and to determine that said decapsulated Fibre Channel/FICON frame is a duplicate or out-of-order frame if said difference is equal or less than zero.
27. The second transport interface of claim 22 , wherein a cyclic redundancy check (CRC) for each said duplicate and/or out-of-order first protocol frames is failed when said drop data strobe is enabled.
28. The second transport interface of claim 22 , wherein said integrated circuit is further configured to send properly received Fibre Channel/FICON frames to said second Fibre Channel/FICON port.
29. In a network system for transporting Generic Framing Protocol (GFP)-encapsulated Fibre Channel/FICON frames across a synchronous optical network (SONET) or synchronous digital hierarchy (SDH) transport network between first and second Fibre Channel/FICON ports, said first Fibre Channel/FICON port connected to said SONET/SDH transport network through a first transport interface and said second Fibre Channel/FICON port connected to said SONET/SDH transport network through a second transport interface, said first transport interface comprising: means for encapsulating said plurality of Fibre Channel/FICON frames into one or more transport frames in order for transport over said SONET/SDH network from said first Fibre Channel/FICON port to said second Fibre Channel/FICON port; means for inserting a sequence number in said order with each Fibre Channel/FICON frame into said one or more transport frames said sequence number is used as an index for determining duplicate and/or out-of order frames after transport over said SONET/SDH network, wherein a drop data strobe is generated for each said determined duplicate and/or out of order Fibre Channel/FICON frames; and means for inserting a control character with said sequence number with each Fibre Channel/FICON frame into said one or more transport frames, said control character indicating said sequence number is active for a corresponding Fibre Channel/FICON frame.
30. In a network system for transporting Generic Framing Protocol (GFP)-encapsulated Fibre Channel/FICON frames across a synchronous optical network (SONET) or synchronous digital hierarchy (SDH) transport network between first and second Fibre Channel/FICON ports, said first Fibre Channel/FICON port connected to said SONET/SDH transport network through a first transport interface and said second Fibre Channel/FICON port connected to said SONET/SDH transport network through a second transport interface, said second transport interface comprising: means for decapsulating a plurality of Fibre Channel/FICON frames from one or more GFP frames after transport over said SONET/SDH network from said first Fibre Channel/FICON port to said second Fibre Channel/FICON port; means for comparing sequence numbers in received order, each sequence number inserted with each Fibre Channel/FICON frame into said one or more GFP frames, to determine duplicate and/or out-of order Fibre Channel/FICON frames; means for checking a control character inserted with each sequence number with each Fibre Channel/FICON frame in said one or more GFP frames to determine if said sequence number is active for a corresponding Fibre Channel/FICON frame; and means for generating a drop data strobe that causes a cyclic redundancy check for said duplicate and/or out-of-order Fibre Channel/FICON frames to fail such that each said duplicate and/or out-of-order Fibre Channel/FICON frames is dropped.
Unknown
January 26, 2010
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